


Too Far Away

by duskblue



Series: Irondad Bingo 2019 [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Gen, Homesickness, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 11:46:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18468298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/duskblue/pseuds/duskblue
Summary: Peter is on a week long summer program at MIT and misses just about everything at home. Tony to the rescue, of course.Iron Dad Bingo 2019, the prompt is: Trope: Homesick





	Too Far Away

Peter has been in bed for almost two hours, but he is no closer to sleeping than when he started. For one thing, he’s in a strange bed and in a strange place. And for another, he doesn’t know anyone here. Or at least not really. The guy sleeping in the bed across the room from him is about a year and a half older, and doesn’t ever seem like he wants to talk much. That’s okay, Peter guesses. They don’t have to like each other. They’re only roommates for two more days, and then they’ll both go home and probably never see each other again. It’s just that Aunt May is at a work conference, and Mr Stark is doing press for a huge product line release all week. He would have been fine just texting Ned, but Ned’s parents had signed him up for some stupid camp where they took his phone away. 

Peter has never been more lonely. He sent his aunt and Mr Stark texts occasionally, but due to their busy schedules, they didn’t reply much during the day and only a little at night.

Lying in the dark in the tiny, cramped dorm room with only a quiet stranger for company, Peter wonders if this is what college life will be like. And he hates it. He’s only sixteen, and to him, college used to seem like forever away, but now that he’s here at MIT at some expensive summer program that Mr Stark and May had signed him up for, it seems just around the corner. 

He doesn’t like it. He wants to go home.

Then again, maybe it’s the five sleepless nights that are already behind him, or maybe it’s the fact that when he did sleep, he endured restless nightmares. Maybe the lack of sleep is finally getting to him. He wants nothing more than to be in his own bed and pretend this never happened. Eventually, he knows he’ll have to go off to college, and he wishes MIT were closer to New York, but he supposes Mr Stark can’t convince them to move their whole campus so it’s more convenient for him. Then again, maybe he could?

He spends another fifteen minutes tossing and turning, listening to all the sounds in the building. There isn’t much noise. Most people are sleeping, but he occasionally hears the creak of a door or a cough. Just when he hears a toilet flushing in the bathroom across the hall from the dorm room he’s staying in, he sits up in bed and reaches for his phone on the nightstand. He doesn’t want to bother Mr Stark, but he doesn’t know what else to do. His situation is starting to border on intolerable.

**Peter: Awake?**

**Mr Stark: No. According to Pepper.**

**Peter: What are you doing?**

**Mr Stark: I was watching a movie. It wasn’t very good. Movie marathons are stupid when you’re not here to watch them with me. Are you okay? Shouldn’t you be asleep?**

Peter’s thumb hovers over the touch screen on his phone. He wants to reply that no, he’s not okay. He wants to ask Mr Stark to come and get him and bring him home. But that would be selfish. Mr Stark probably has meetings and presentations and interviews tomorrow to wrap up his week. 

**Peter: I’m okay. Just can’t sleep**

**Mr Stark: Really? Then why did it take you three whole minutes to reply? Be honest with me. If you’re not okay, just say so. We’ve talked about this.**

Peter’s eyes fill with tears, and he sniffs and quickly wipes them away.

**Peter: Fine. It sucks here. I can’t sleep, no one likes me, and I want to come home. I’m sorry. You probably have a lot going on. You probably don’t need to hear this right now. I’ll try to sleep again. I’m coming back in a few days. I’ll probably be okay**

**Mr Stark: Whoa. Stop. Probably is not good enough for me. Go out in the hall or something so you can call me. Okay?**

Peter throws off his blankets and tiptoes to the hallway, grabbing his key just in case. Then he puts a call through to Mr Stark while he slides down to the floor against the wall.

“Kid,” Mr Stark says instead of hello. “Tell me exactly what’s going on. No holding back.”

“I don’t want to freak you out,” Peter says softly, sniffing to keep his tears at bay.

“By you saying you don’t want to freak me out, it’s actually freaking me out more. I need to know the whole story so I can fix it. Lay it on me.”

“The school is fine,” Peter says, picking at the rough carpet by his bare feet. “The professors I met are really smart, and I learned some stuff. Everyone is nice.”

There’s a pause. “Then what’s the problem?” Mr Stark asks.

Peter’s bottom lip trembles. “I don’t know anyone here,” he says once he thinks he has it under control. “My roommate thinks I talk too much. He barely says a word. I miss my aunt, and I miss you. I want to spend my summer vacation at home, and at the compound, and working with you in the lab, and swinging around Queens, and hanging out with Ned. MIT is too far from New York, Mr Stark.”

Mr Stark sighs, but it’s not an annoyed sigh. “You’re coming back home on Saturday. Tomorrow night is going to be the big party night. Don’t you want to go?”

“I hate parties,” Peter mumbles. “Besides, I don’t really know anyone here. I don’t want to hang with them. I just want to go home.”

“I can’t just come get you in the middle of the night, Pete. I mean, I could, but I’m pretty sure the program leaders are going to be a little upset that one of their students went missing.”

“I’ll leave them a note,” Peter suggests helpfully.

“You’re a minor signed up for a summer program at one of the nations best universities. Pretty sure they’re going to notice if you go missing into the night.”

Peter rolls his eyes. “That’s what the note’s for, Mr Stark. I’m not missing if there’s a note.”

“And what will the note say? ‘Dear MIT, I’ve been kidnapped by Iron Man’? No thanks. That’s the last thing I need press for--kidnapping children. Geez. How about you either try your best to sleep or watch your youtube videos for the rest of the night. I’ll make a call to the program leader in the morning, and then Happy can come get you. Is that a good compromise?”

Peter thinks about it. Everything seems better when he has Mr Stark’s voice in his ear, but the second he hangs up, he’ll be back to being alone again, and that is something he definitely does not want. “Can’t Happy come get me now?” he asks quietly. Honestly, he would rather Mr Stark came to get him, but he knows that’s probably asking too much.

Mr Stark sighs again, and this time, it does sound a little irritated, but Peter can tell he’s getting somewhere. “Let me make some phone calls. I’ll text you in a few minutes, okay?”

“Who are you going to call?”

“The emergency numbers on email your aunt forwarded to me. I don’t know if this constitutes as an emergency, but I’m not going to sleep at all if I know you’re sad. And you know how much Pepper hates it when I don’t sleep.”

Peter smiles for a brief moment. “Yeah,” he says. “I know. Okay. I’ll just wait here until I hear back from you. Thanks, Mr Stark. I owe you.”

“Yeah, you do,” Mr Stark says, the smile apparent in his voice. “I’m thinking what I’d like in return is an earlier curfew for you for the rest of the summer. I’m thinking eleven.”

Peter’s mouth falls open in slight outrage, but he promptly closes it, taking in a deep breath. He really wants to go home. Spending the weekend in his room at Mr Stark’s penthouse is worth eleven o’clock curfews. “Fine,” he says at last. “It’s a deal.”

~*~

The sun is just coming up when Mr Stark arrives to pick Peter up and bring him back to New York. Peter throws his arms around him and holds on a little too tightly until the man pats his back a few times, signaling that he can’t breathe. Peter loosens his hold, but doesn’t let go.

“You’re the best, you know that?” Peter says, grinning into his shoulder.

Mr Stark coughs after the air rushes back into his lungs. “Duh. But next time, can you hug just a little gentler? I’m going to have bruises.”

“Sorry, Mr Stark.” Peter lets go, still grinning, and lunges towards the door with his keys to let them back inside where the program leader is waiting by the elevator to escort them back up to the room to get Peter’s things. “I feel a little stupid about all of this,” he mutters after Tony signs a few papers attached to the leader’s clipboard.

“You’d be surprised how often this happens,” the program leader says as the elevator makes its way up to the sixth floor. “It’s usually on the first two nights, though.”

“Not surprised,” Mr Stark says when the elevator doors open. “My dad sent me to stuff like this all the time. Only no one ever picked me up. Eventually I just got used to it. At some point home stopped being home. Not sure when that was though.” He puts his hand on Peter’s shoulder and squeezes. “I don’t want you to have to go through that. All of this, Pete--it’s not me sending you away.”

“I know,” Peter says. “I wanted to come here. I just think maybe next time, Ned could come with too. I think that would make it easier.”

Mr Stark reaches for Peter’s hair and ruffles it. Peter is so thankful, he skipps the whole ducking and pretending he doesn’t like it. 

“Let’s go grab your things, buddy. I gotta be back at ten. Or rather before Pepper realizes I’m not in New York.”

Peter grins and races back to his room where his roommate is just getting out of bed, looking sleepy in his pajamas and his hair all over the place. He yawns loudly and then looks at Peter, who’s grabbing his previously packed bags.

“Where are you going?”

“Um, something came up at home,” he says because he doesn’t want to tell the older boy that he’s homesick. “I gotta go. Have a good weekend.”

“Thanks—” But he doesn’t get a chance to finish replying, because Tony Stark is sticking his head through the door jam, looking around briefly before his eyes find Peter.

“Chop chop,” he says. “We’ve got a plane to catch.”

“I’m coming, geez. And I’m pretty sure the plane will wait for you,” Peter says before turning to his roommate. “Bye!” he grins and waves, running out of the room with his things while his roommate’s jaw is still hanging open.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm getting these done very slowly. I just started a new position at work, so bear with me! I will get a bingo!!
> 
> Thank you to everyone who left comments on my last prompt! I seriously cried they were so sweet <3


End file.
